Local engineer was a real game changer

Forty-seven years ago, George Klassen had an idea that improved the lives of millions of people in Bangladesh. It was for a hand-powered rower pump, a classic piece of simple, inexpensive and appropriate technology that poor farmers could use to irrigate their crops.

Today, an estimated 500,000 rower pumps are still in operation, benefitting more than 2.5 million people in that southeast Asian country — a legacy to Klassen’s vision, curiosity and ingenuity.

Klassen, who died on April 15 in Steinbach, spent his early years in Blumenort (near Gretna) before moving with his parents and 10 siblings to a farm near Steinbach. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with a B.Sc., he taught science and math in Nigeria with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for three years.

There, he became convinced the best way he could serve people in the global south was by assisting them with practical skills and knowledge. With that in mind, when Klassen returned to Canada he decided to go back to the University of Manitoba to study engineering.

400+ brands in 5+ years: Winnipeg-based digital marketing firm Mad Social Agency continues to evolve

Maddie Thompson was on a beach when she decided to drop out of school.

It was February 2022 and she was studying architecture at the University of Manitoba. While maintaining her spot on the dean’s honour list, Thompson was also running Mad Social Agency Ltd., the digital marketing firm she’d started two years earlier. She had enough business by that point she was hiring friends to help manage accounts.

Sitting on Locarno Beach in Vancouver, she realized it made sense to drop out and pursue the business full-time.

“My thought process was: I’m going to take a one-year leave of absence and see if I can make this work,” says Thompson, 23. “And I just never went back.”

YouTube using creators to enhance broadcast of the NFL game between the Chiefs and the Chargers

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs face Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers in the most accessible game to viewers on Friday night in Brazil.

It’s the first NFL game streamed on YouTube and there will be plenty of unique elements surrounding the broadcast.

The league and YouTube have assembled a lineup of content creators to enhance the viewing experience.

Cam Newton, Brandon Marshall, Derek Carr and Tyrann Mathieu will be part of a pre-game and post-game shows hosted by Kay Adams.

Carney announces supports for sectors affected by U.S. tariffs

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday a suite of new measures to support sectors of the economy hit hardest by U.S. tariffs.

The announcement includes $5 billion for a fund to help companies pivot to new products and markets and keep skills and production in Canada, and to make them more competitive globally.

At a press conference at an aerospace plant in Mississauga, Ont. Friday morning, Carney said that the fund would be open to "all sectors, given the fact that the tariff impacts are wide-ranging across Canadian industries." He said that heavily affected sectors like steel, automobile, lumber and aluminum would have priority.

Carney also announced a “Buy Canadian” policy for the federal government.

Unemployment rate climbed to 7.1 per cent in August as economy lost 66,000 jobs

OTTAWA - The Canadian economy lost jobs for the second month in a row and the unemployment rate climbed to its highest level since May 2016, excluding the pandemic period, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

The weaker-than-expected reading of the labour market prompted financial markets to increase the odds the Bank of Canada will cut its key interest rate target later this month.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1 per cent in August as the economy lost 66,000 jobs for the month. The monthly jobs report comes after the July labour force survey that showed a loss of 41,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent.

A poll of economists heading into the release had expected August to show a gain of 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to seven per cent for the month, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Manitoba LGBT* chamber starts entrepreneur development program

A new program aims to support LGBTTQ+ entrepreneurs in Manitoba.

The Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce is accepting applications for Emerge, the queer entrepreneur development program it’s launching next month. The six-month program is designed for members of the LGBTTQ+ community to gain essential business skills and strategies, and to build a supportive network of mentors and colleagues in the process.

The program is the first of its kind for the chamber, said Jenny Steinke-Magnus, executive director. “There’s really some unique challenges that queer entrepreneurs face, so we wanted to address those challenges and offer this tailor-made program for queer entrepreneurs in Manitoba.”

Steinke-Magnus cites findings from Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) that shows one in four LGBTTQ+ entrepreneurs have lost business opportunities because of their identity. Two in five have difficulty obtaining financing for their business because of their identity, and one in three have been unable to access mentoring and coaching.

The new ‘too normal’ — AI’s band plays on

AI does not produce new ideas; it rummages about on the internet and finds whatever is out there, neatly repackaging it for the unwitting (or dimwitted) consumer by an algorithm designed in secret for what we hope are good reasons.

‘You’re planting your brand flag’: The power of brand building in the women’s sports boom

On a cold day in the beginning of 2024, Alastair Merry and Mary Lou Bunn had a few questions for a public librarian in Ottawa, Ontario.

“If you could describe Ottawa and what it means to you in a couple words, how would you do it?” they asked. “What do you think of the spirit of the city?”

Merry and Bunn, along with the design firm Flower Shop that they co-founded, were hired by the then newly minted Professional Women’s Hockey League to create the nicknames and logos for the league’s inaugural six teams. They were traveling around North America to figure out what made those six cities tick.

As the ever-growing crop of new women’s leagues — at least eight have launched in the past three years — all aim for longevity, one of the cornerstones of any sustainable foundation is team branding. It encompasses everything from the nicknames to the color schemes and logos, and the PWHL has set a high bar there that other up-and-comers would love to emulate.

How young content creators plan to balance their social media success and campus life

Growing up, Sofia DelGiudice never imagined her father’s annual back-to-school tradition would be a pivotal moment in her social media career.

Before starting university two years ago, the 19-year-old content creator from Toronto had the idea to stitch together all the videos her dad filmed of her descending the stairs in the family's home on the first day of school.

"It's the first day of what grade?" DelGiudice’s dad can be heard asking her in each clip recorded from kindergarten onward.

DelGiudice posted what she thought was a cute homage only her small TikTok following would see — and it went viral.

Creating realistic deepfakes is getting easier than ever. Fighting back may take even more AI

WASHINGTON (AP) — The phone rings. It's the secretary of state calling. Or is it?

For Washington insiders, seeing and hearing is no longer believing, thanks to a spate of recent incidents involving deepfakes impersonating top officials in President Donald Trump's administration.

Digital fakes are coming for corporate America, too, as criminal gangs and hackers associated with adversaries including North Korea use synthetic video and audio to impersonate CEOs and low-level job candidates to gain access to critical systems or business secrets.

Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, creating realistic deepfakes is easier than ever, causing security problems for governments, businesses and private individuals and making trust the most valuable currency of the digital age.

There is no innovation without social accountability

“Can a country call itself innovative if its founding wounds remain open?” That’s a question I’ve been sitting with for a while.

Winnipeg’s transit system has changed. Here’s your survival guide.

Winnipeg Transit's bus network is undergoing a complete transformation on June 29. The Free Press has created a survival guide to help you navigate the new system.

Long-awaited Winnipeg Transit network overhaul goes live Sunday

Winnipeg’s bus network will undergo a massive one-day transformation on Sunday that alters virtually every route.

Graphic novelist to lead free workshop for aspiring artists

Jonathan Dyck’s most monumental piece of advice? Start small.

Decade of pride in custom power products for Strong Electric

If there’s one thing Darrell Driedger likes, it’s a challenge.

“I’m a custom guy all the way,” he says of his interest in creating unique products. “I’m in my glory when I get a set of plans from a client, can offer suggestions on the design and build and then figure out how we can make it work.”

Driedger is the chief operating officer at Strong Electric Manufacturing Inc., a Winnipeg business that provides standard and custom engineered solutions for the electrical industry.

Located at 906 King Edward St., beside its sister company, SCT Welding, Laser & Manufacturing Co., Strong Electric focuses on electrical distribution products of up to 25,000 volts for the commercial, industrial, utility and mining markets.

‘Elio’ is an intergalactic tale — but for Toronto’s Domee Shi, it hits close to home

TORONTO - For Domee Shi, making a movie about an introverted kid getting abducted by aliens felt oddly familiar.

Not because she’s had any close encounters, but because she remembers being a teenager longing to be taken away to a world where her weirdness was understood.

The Toronto native co-directs “Elio,” a Pixar animated sci-fi film about an 11-year-old orphan who yearns to be snatched by extraterrestrials to escape his loneliness — and gets his wish when an interplanetary organization mistakes him for Earth’s ambassador.

“He's this lonely artsy kid who just wants to belong somewhere. I definitely felt that way growing up,” says the Oscar-winning animator behind 2022’s coming-of-age Toronto-set hit “Turning Red.”

Diversified roles in society shape painter Brian Hunter’s work and process

Brian Hunter’s multiple roles within society inform the works in his current exhibition, On Shaky Ground, at 226 Gallery, located at 226 Main St.

It’s his first solo show in seven years.

The 22 oils, created in response to “the current shifting and uncertain atmosphere,” are a departure from the artist’s previous work.

Nine years ago Hunter snagged top spot at the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. He spent a year in an art residency at the Gwangju Museum of Art in South Korea, and has shown in South Korea, Spain, Montreal and Toronto.

Singer-songwriter Kelly Bado’s music imbued with the richness of her culture

Kelly Bado, a keen observer of the world around her, forged a sense of camaraderie with her new city — with its landscape, its history and its people — at The Forks.

Program offers a promising future

As soon as Anfernee Clarke learned about the Pre-Apprentice Bricklayer Program being offered by First Peoples Development Inc. he was intrigued.

A decade ago an 18-year-old Clarke started working in the construction industry doing concrete work. He loved the physical nature of the work but a back injury he suffered five years ago forced him to temporarily put that career on hold and seek out other employment opportunities.

Now fully healed, he learned about FPDI’s bricklayer program late last year and wasted no time applying. He was one of 12 people who were part of the program’s initial cohort of students when it was launched this past January.

“I made up my mind pretty quickly (about applying),” he says.

Strike threat could push more customers away from struggling Canada Post

MONTREAL - Canada Post customers may face delays as tens of thousands of workers swear off overtime shifts, though a much bigger disruption was averted after the union backed down from a strike threat.

Nonetheless, the possibility of escalating job action could continue to scare off customers who pulled their shipments over the past couple of weeks, draining more business from the cash-strapped organization.

“I’m scared for the future,” said Edmonton mail carrier Dustin Ellis, who recently went on leave to study for a new career in social work.

He said the union should show more flexibility on key sticking points such as part-time weekend work and "dynamic routing" — where the path carriers take can vary day to day.

Celebrating 50 years, Winnipeg's downtown Keg steakhouse takes pride in its endurance

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar at 115 Garry St. — commonly referred to as the Garry Street Keg, or simply Garry Street — turns 50 years old in June.

Gord Howard, the owner of Winnipeg’s three Keg restaurants including the downtown locale, intends to mark the milestone in some manner, though he admits it will be difficult to match the goings-on that occurred there 40 summers ago.

Howard was a manager at the Garry Street Keg in June 1985 when his then-supervisor Griffin Tripp suggested they throw a shindig to toast the popular dining spot’s 10th anniversary. The pair arranged to have Garry Street closed to vehicular traffic between Broadway and York Avenue to facilitate a daylong block party featuring live music and free Keg-size victuals. And because George Tidball, the chain’s founder, was flying in from Vancouver to attend, Tripp suggested they present their boss with a gift upon his arrival.

“George was a horseman originally from Alberta, so Griff thought it would be a good idea to get him a commemorative saddle,” Howard says, seated in the attractive 255-seat spot that, since the outset, has boasted brick walls, oak tables and well-situated fireplaces.

Nearly one in three non-profit workers burnt out and food insecure, survey suggests

A survey of 1,116 employees at non-profit organizations across Canada indicates more than one-third of workers regularly feel burnt out and exhausted.

The Changemaker Wellbeing Index, published Thursday, says 36 per cent of workers said they were struggling with issues such as anxiety, poor job satisfaction and insufficient household incomes.

The survey was conducted between Feb. 21 and March 14 by Toronto-based Environics Research on behalf of media company Future of Good.

Thirty-four per cent of respondents at community non-profits said they were food insecure, and 20 per cent said they were likely to quit in the next six months.

Slow fashion houses embrace made-to-order to reduce waste

TORONTO - On occasion, fashion designer and clothier Katelyn Woodburn is accused of running a scam.

When a customer makes a purchase without reading the "about" section on her website or following her on social media, they might send an email a week or two later saying something like: "Where's my order? It hasn't even shipped yet? What's going on?" Woodburn recounted from her Vancouver studio.

"Which is a totally reasonable response," she added. Consumers are conditioned to expect instant gratification when it comes to clothes shopping, but that's not really how Woodburn does things.

"I'll say, 'Oh, your shirt is being cut out. We're going to sew it tomorrow.' I tell them the whole process of what's happening. And 100 per cent of the time, I get a response going, 'Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize. This is so cool, no rush at all.'"

Longtime attendee of Winnipeg Beach Jewish camp now program and planning director

It’s difficult for Drew McGillawee to pinpoint just one favourite part of his 18 summers at Camp Massad, but his biggest takeaway is that attending camp shaped him into the person he is today.

“Camp is the place that allowed me to be myself and allowed me to come out of my shell,” the 25-year-old Winnipegger said.

“Any job that I’ve had outside of camp is because of all the skills that I gained at camp, and all of my best friends are from my experiences at camp.”

This summer, McGillawee acted as director of planning and programming at the Jewish summer camp in Winnipeg Beach. The job allowed him to help attendees have the same formative experiences that he did.